It’s like homework

I was asked to complete a review for BA before the flight ended. As there were problems with the in flight entertainment I mentioned this in what I thought was a very understanding way, really without complaint as I was happy reading my book. I was then confronted by two stewardesses who grilled me over this in loud voices in front of other passengers making me feel very uncomfortable. They actually wanted me to change the form as I had been reading not looking at a screen that didn't work!

In 2001 we were rescued by the Life Boat when the tiller snapped on our little yacht and we were drifting onto rocks. They towed us safely back to the harbour. Imagine my amazement when the Deputy Coxswain handed me a 'How did we do?' questionnaire! Naturally, I completed it straight away, and rated them highly, but really, all I wanted to do was have a cup of tea!

I've just had a heavy oak coffee table delivered. They didn't tell the driver that I live in a first floor flat (which was on the form for delivery details). He was very cross but he did deliver it by somersaulting it up the stairs. I told him that I had informed the company that I'm on the first floor and that I had paid for delivery. He was very grumpy and I can't say that I blame him (he could easily have hurt his back) but I felt like I was being blamed for the company's mistake.
He said that he would tell the company before they send the other delivery and I also put a comment in a review to Very so I hope I don't get a grouchy driver again.

I bought a household product via Amazon Marketplace and it turned out to be a piece of useless junk, completely unfit for purpose. I returned it and obtained a refund and I also put a short, factual review on Amazon, stating clearly but politely why this item was a waste of money. To my astonishment, I received an email from the seller asking me to reconsider and edit my review as my negative feedback "might damage their business"!!.
My reply to them was terse in the extreme!

Depends on who is asking. If its a GP surgery I will respond. An Estate Agent, no, I can't be bothered. Having said this it is the only way an organisation can see where the gaps are and improve their performance/service. So, nine out ten times I will respond if I have the time.

If you are not intending to use the firms that want a feed-back, I don't think you should waste your time on their questionnaire. I am sure you have a lot of other things to see to right now.

If they phone and ask, say you found an estate agent that suited you better and leave it at that.

We are under no obligation to answer consumer research.

The world and it’s wife want surveys completed these days on absolutely everything under the sun. Life’s too short, delete, delete, delete .... unless of course a good moan is in order !! Constructively of course !

The issue with estate agents, the answer is to ignore them.

7 months after my husband put his house on the market and he still gets phone calls from the estate agents that he turned down. He has ignored them since he chose an estate agent and told them they were not being used.

Seems they do not get the message that he is not giving them any business.

Their phone not there!
That wasn't meant to be a rant. I'm not really that angry about it, just a bit irritated at times.

Above message about Barclays is for greyduster

What I hate is when someone delivers something and then hands you there phone and asks you to complete a review often when they haven't quite finished whatever they are doing (putting a bed together in the last instance). There is nothing that you can do but give a good review. It also happened when our TV aerials were changed to digital. He turned up at 8pm in a bad mood because he was having to work so late and stopped when he handed me a form to complete. Then he said 'you haven't completed it' and I said 'you haven't finished yet'. He was surprised that I wanted to test it to make sure it worked.
A review that you have to hand to the person you are writing it about and feel obliged to give is worthless - but they can still stick it online.
I recently had my washing machine repaired and the repairman was very good, he arrived straightaway, found the outlet pipe from the machine was blocked and just charged me the call out. He asked me about 4 times to put a review on Trustpilot. I did with some difficulty but then I got an email saying I had put it in the wrong place but no link to the right place. I gave up but now I feel that if I want to use him again I am going to have to excuse myself which is ridiculous.
I did put up a review for Made.com. I bought an expensive chair from them and it had marks on it (I think where cardboard was wedged into the chair instead of using a box and it marked the inside of the arms. They were good about it being returned - but it took 9 emails to get them to send a collection order to the delivery company so in the end it was over 2 months for me to get the chair that I wanted and the damaged one returned. They started sending me emails asking me to reconsider my review while I was still waiting for the collection/delivery. I probably would have added one star if they hadn't done that before it was eventually sorted out but I got really fed up with the whole thing.
I must admit that I do read them though. I am waiting in today for a coffee table from Very and the reviews were generally good.

Barclays have done this at my branch. However there is a desk for business and foreign currency so I go to it.
Only once did someone question me and I stated firmly that I do not want to use the machine so the desk staff served me. This happened when machines were first put in and since then no one says a word.
So I have a feeling that perhaps I am not the only person to have insisted on using the desk.

We went into a health food shop last week. Next day had an e-mail requesting feedback. We wrote. ' Went in, bought stuff, came out.' This is the 4th or 5th time they have requested feedback, and we always write the same. Who is going to get fed up first do you suppose?

When I sold my home I had 2 Estate Agents - one was dashingly handsome impeccably dressed and very courteous and I felt a slob in comparison. The other was ordinary and cheerful and I chose him! When asked why by the first chap I mumbled something incomprehensible!

I think this feedback thing is quite common to most businesses these days PamelaJ1 . I work in engineering and when we quote for work and are unsuccessful, we always ask for feedback, which helps us understand why we were not successful. Was it the price? The way we were planning on doing the job? The time scales? etc. its a very useful way of finding our if/how you may have gone wrong.

Just ignore the requests if they're verbal and a simple NTY will suffice for verbal. I had a two minute conversation with a bank employee on Friday regarding my account and he wondered if I would be willing to answer a few questions about his service. I replied that it would have been 100 per cent until he asked the question when it zonked to zero. He thanked me politely and finished.

It is getting silly.We now get a text message after visiting the Drs surgery to ask us to rate our experience?

I do all of my shopping online these days and the vast majority of the companies I deal with ask for feedback. Some of their requests turn into 20 minute surveys whose scope goes way beyond my opinion of the product. I absolutely refuse to be part of an unpaid focus group for these people and as a result I now refuse to give any feedback, even after 2 or 3 prompts.

I agree that it is getting silly. We went to pay a cheque into our account at the main branch last week - all machines now, no bank staff except a “minder”. We then got an email asking for “feedback on our experience”! We paid a cheque into a machine, FGS! If we give negative feedback is the machine going to be affronted and shut down (although if our bank really want feedback I can give them plenty and none of it will be positive!)?

Don't complete it unless you want to

Why do you feel you have to give feedback?
I would just ignore them .
If asked on the phone, I would be tempted to tell them to
MTOB but would probably say it wads a personal decision.

The last time we sold a house we had this from the rejected estate agents and we just told them it was the price and service they were offering- all of them then offered a discount. We stayed with our original choice